Privacy Policy

Welcome to Shail-Satya Foundation (“Foundation,” “we,” “us,” or “our”). We operate as a registered public charitable trust in India under the Indian Trusts Act, 1882 (Registration Number: IV 51/2025; NGO Darpan Unique ID: UP/2025/0572608). Our registered office is located at N.1/12-L-4-A, Gangotri Vihar Colony, Nagwa, Lanka, Varanasi – 221005, Uttar Pradesh, India.

This Privacy Policy outlines our standards and practices regarding the collection, handling, disclosure, and protection of personal data when you interact with our website (www.shailsatyafoundation.org), contribute donations, apply for volunteering opportunities, or communicate with our team. By using our website or providing information to us, you acknowledge that you have read and agree to the terms set forth herein.

We collect only the minimum necessary information required to fulfil our non-profit charitable objectives, process contributions, and comply with Indian statutory requirements:

• Donor Information: When you make a voluntary donation, we collect your Full Name, Email Address, Contact Telephone Number, Postal/Billing Address, and Permanent Account Number (PAN). As mandated by the Income Tax Department of India for tax deduction receipts and Form 10BD/10BE filing, PAN is required for verifying domestic donations.
• Volunteer & Job Applicant Information: When applying to volunteer or work with us, we collect your professional background, educational history, resume/CV, availability schedule, and district/city of residence.
• Inquiries & Communications: When you submit a contact form, suggest a government school for library setup, or email our desk, we retain the correspondence history, your email, and submitted queries.
• Device & Network Log Data: When you navigate our website, our web servers automatically log non-identifying technical data such as IP address, operating system, browser type, referral URLs, pages viewed, and access timestamps to ensure cyber security and optimal performance.

Your personal data is collected and utilized solely for legitimate, non-commercial purposes connected with our charitable activities:

• Processing financial donations and issuing instant digital donation receipts.
• Complying with statutory audits, financial accounting obligations, and filing mandatory donor returns under the Indian Income Tax Act, 1961.
• Transmitting periodic impact reports, library deployment milestones, and campaign newsletters (donors may unsubscribe at any moment).
• Screening, interviewing, and deploying on-ground volunteers across reading corners, rural school libraries, and free health check-up camps.
• Securing our digital systems against cyber threats, automated spam, and unauthorized access attempts.

We treat financial security with the highest standard of caution. All online contributions on www.shailsatyafoundation.org are processed through RBI-authorised, PCI-DSS Level 1 compliant payment gateway aggregators (such as Razorpay):

In the event of payment failure or duplicate debits, transactions can be reconciled directly via our payment partners and your bank in accordance with our Refund & Cancellation Policy.

Our website uses minimal, necessary cookies to ensure proper technical function and evaluate website health:

• Essential Cookies: Required for core site navigation, form authentication, and retaining modal preferences during active browsing sessions.
• Analytical Cookies: Aggregated, anonymised analytics (e.g. Google Analytics) used to measure traffic volume, reader interest in campaigns, and identify technical bottlenecks. No personally identifiable information is stored in these analytics.

You can disable non-essential cookies via your web browser settings. Disabling cookies will not hinder your ability to browse our educational stories or read campaign archives.

We uphold strict data confidentiality. Shail-Satya Foundation will never sell, trade, rent, or lease donor or volunteer data to third parties for commercial marketing under any circumstance.

We disclose data strictly under the following narrow exceptions:

• Trusted Service Providers: Authorized technical providers who maintain our cloud servers, handle secure transaction routing (Razorpay), or dispatch transactional emails/SMS receipts — all bound by strict non-disclosure obligations.
• Statutory & Regulatory Authorities: Where mandated by Indian law, valid court orders, or statutory filing requirements (such as reporting annual donation logs to the Income Tax Department or NITI Aayog).

We apply multi-layered physical and digital security controls to protect personal data from accidental loss, destruction, alteration, or unauthorized access.

• Retention Period for Donations: Statutory financial data (donor names, amounts, PAN, transaction dates) are retained for 7 to 8 financial years as mandated by the Indian Income Tax Act and trust audit provisions.
• General Inquiries & Volunteer Resumes: Retained for up to 24 months, after which they are securely purged from our active contact lists unless active volunteering is underway.

As an education foundation working in primary schools across Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, protecting the dignity and safety of young learners is foundational to our ethics:

• Photographs and video documentation of children participating in reading sessions or receiving book kits are captured with the awareness and consent of school headmasters, teachers, and local guardians.
• We never publish sensitive personal identifiers such as children’s home addresses, familial financial distress details, or personal contact coordinates.
• Images are published solely to report genuine ground impact, inspire literacy, and maintain donor accountability.

Under the DPDP Act, 2023 and prevailing Indian data protection jurisprudence, you possess the following rights regarding your personal data:

• Right to Access: Request confirmation and a clear summary of personal data held about you.
• Right to Correction & Updating: Request the correction of inaccurate or incomplete contact or tax information.
• Right to Withdraw Consent: Withdraw consent for promotional updates and newsletters with immediate effect.
• Right to Erasure: Request deletion of personal data when no longer needed, subject to statutory non-profit audit retention rules.
• Right to Grievance Redressal: Access a responsive, timely mechanism to address privacy questions or complaints.

In accordance with the Information Technology Act, 2000 and DPDP Act provisions, the designated Grievance Officer for Shail-Satya Foundation is:

We endeavor to respond to and resolve all data grievances within thirty (30) days of receipt.

Shail-Satya Foundation reserves the right to periodically review and modify this Privacy Policy in response to changes in legal frameworks, technical practices, or operational procedures. Material updates will be highlighted on this page along with an updated revision date. Continued engagement with our digital services following an update constitutes understanding and acceptance of the revised terms.